Summary
- The Australian stock exchange houses many stocks that have shown strong performance amid COVID-19 outbreak.
- Companies such as Pushpay holdings, Alkane Resources and Mesoblast have experienced more than 50% rise in their share prices year-till-date, providing good returns to their investors.
- Appen and a2 Milk also made investors hooked to them, with strong product portfolios positioned to leverage their respective growing addressable market.
- Stock Market sentiments went little rough after Rio Tinto destroyed 46,000-year-old heritaged rock shelters in the Juukan Gorge area.
COVID or No COVID, few stocks have been rippling the Australian Stock Exchange (ASX), with their tremendous fiscal year results and COVID-19 proof performance on stock market. Hailing from different industries, each company announced dramatic development in 2020 making stock-vines to buzz in tandem.
Let’s deep dive and check their latest updates.
Pushpay Holdings Limited (ASX:PHP)
Year 2020 has presented Pushpay’s investors an opportunity to gain unprecedented return with the Company’s share price trading at a 70% increase on year-till-date.
PHP, which provides online donation platform for the non-profit organisations, has announced positive results with online giving transactions skyrocketed due to the COVID-19 restrictions disallowing physical movement to any public place including church.
The Company which boasted a 32% increase in its revenue, recorded a positive operating profit in FY 2020, a 180 degree turn from last year’s negative operating loss. Pushpay also provided a positive guidance for FY21 ending on March 31 with EBITDAF expected within US$48.0 million and US$52.0 million. PHP intends to push for more digital based services including partnership with Stream Monkey.
On 10 June 2020, PPH last traded at $6.8, up by 2.874% from its last close.
Alkane Resources Limited (ASX:ALK)
Alkane Resources shares jumped by 55.56% year-till-date, driven by discovery of additional high-grade gold intercepts in Roswell and San Antonio Resources for its flagship gold project, Tomingley Gold Operations.
Roswell Inferred Resource stands at 445,000oz and San Antonio Inferred Resource stands at 453,000oz. ALK, which operates gold projects located at the Central West region of NSW and other parts of Australia, has a strong cash position at $81.9M in cash, bullion and listed investments with no debt on balance sheet. Alkane recorded a cumulative open pit production of 369,000oz at AISC of $1,192/oz from its Tomingley Gold Operations (TGO) gold project from 2014 to 2019. In 2020, the Company declared demerger of its 100% owned subsidiary company- Australian Strategic Materials.
On 10 June 2020, ALK last traded at $0.95, up by 4.396% from its last close.
The a2 Milk Company Limited (ASX:A2M)
The a2 Milk has driven its investors towards positivity with double digit growth in the range of 10% to 35%, since the great fall on March 23rd, 2020 when S&P/ASX 200 touched its lowest mark in last four years. A2M has been recording increased revenues in all its addressable markets with a sales boom experienced in China and Australia.
In March 2020, the Company entered into a production, distribution, sale and marketing agreement with Agrifoods Cooperative for its a2 Milk for the Canadian market. a2 Milk, which provides infant formula, is determined to expand across all regions and anticipates FY20 revenue to be between $1,700 million to $1,750 million.
On 10 June 2020, A2M last traded at $18.1, up by 2.666% from its last close.
Appen Limited (ASX:APX)
Appen’s share price rebounded from March 2020 after a steady dip since its debut in January 2020. The Company which provides training data for machine learning and artificial intelligence products has been showcasing a staggering growth in its revenue since 2015 at 59% CAGR.
APX has been operating for 24 years and is well positioned to address more than 1 million+ crowd, covering 180 languages from 130 countries through its technology platform. Appen depends on its current customer base for existing and new projects and intends to make extensive investment in sales and Marketing in FY20 to lay foundation for further growth.
APX has a robust growth plan across technology, automotive and financial services industries globally. China is a major geographic focus for onboarding additional clients. The Company operates in the AI domain which is the current go-to-technology for digitisation across industries.
On 10 June 2020, ALK last traded at $0.95, up by 4.396% from its last close.
Mesoblast Limited (ASX:MSB)
Mesoblast has been sharing the limelight after showcasing 83% survival rate in ventilator-dependent COVID-19 patients upon administrating remestemcel-L for treating COVID-19 in April 2020.
Currently, giving 83% higher return on year-till-date, MSB started enrolling patients for phase 2/3 trial in the month of May, with first patient dosed in the first week. Mesoblast also raised $138 million through placement of 43 million shares. The proceeds will be used to increase remestemcel-L production for COVID-19 ARDS.
In its 9-month financial results for FY2020, MSB recorded revenue of US$ 31.5 million, an increase of 113% driven by growth in royalty revenues from TEMCELL HS Inj.® sales in Japan and increase in milestone revenues stemming from strategic partnerships. The Company’s current pipeline showcases four product candidates indicated for various therapeutic areas. Its leading product, RYONCIL, indicated for acute GVHD, is set for commercial launch worldwide excluding Japan, where JCR Pharmaceuticals will market the product through a distributing partnership with Mesoblast.
On 10 June 2020, MSB last traded at $3.90, up by 3.723% from its last close.
Rio Tinto Limited (ASX:RIO)
Rio into is currently in limelight for all the wrong reasons. Having blasted the 46,000-year-old rock shelters, the Company is facing tremendous backlash from the traditional landowners of the Puutu Kunti Kurrama and Pinikura (or PKKP) of Aboriginal community.
MSB has issued an apology statement along with going forward with reviewing plans of all other sites in the Juukan Gorge area. The Company’s share price closed at $100.480 on June 10th, a decrease of 0.878% over the previous day.
Also Read: Rio Tinto Under Community Backlash After Blasting Indigenous Site
Disclaimer: All the currencies mentioned are in AUD unless specified
Disclaimer
There is no investor left unperturbed with the ongoing trade conflicts between US-China and the devastating bushfire in Australia.
Are you wondering if the year 2020 might not have taken the right start? Dividend stocks could be the answer to that question.
As interest rates in Australia are already at record low levels, find out which dividend stocks are viewed as the most attractive investment opportunity in the current scenario in our report.
